On 18 December 1982, The Irish Times security correspondent Peter Murtagh reported that the telephones of journalists Bruce Arnold and Geraldine Kennedy had been tapped under warrants signed by Seán Doherty, then Minister for Justice. After the government changed, incoming minister Michael Noonan ordered an investigation and announced on 20 January 1983 that the Fianna Fáil government had authorized illegal surveillance of Arnold, Kennedy, and journalist Vincent Browne. The stated legal purposes were national security and protection against serious crime, but investigators found the journalists had no connection to criminal or subversive activity.
The taps ran from 10 May to 12 July 1982 for Arnold and from 28 July to 16 November, with a renewal on 27 October, for Kennedy. Deputy Garda Commissioner Joseph Ainsworth requested complete transcripts on 5 October, and investigator Lawrence Wren found that Doherty—not the Gardaí—had initiated the requests and received copies of recordings. Nearly a decade later, Doherty admitted showing transcripts to Taoiseach Charles Haughey in 1982, contradicting earlier denials; Haughey resigned. Kennedy and Arnold won lawsuits over the tapping, while Browne settled out of court.
